Glos players swap bats for brushes to help local cricket club

Players from Gloucestershire County Cricket Club will bebrushing up on their DIY skills this weekend as they help Winterbourne CC painttheir new pavilion.

Around 15 of the squad will join an army of volunteerslending a hand as part of the 2013 Natwest CricketForce initiative.

One of the players giving up his time to help is GCCCbatsman Dan Housego.

He said: "The players at Gloucestershire County Cricket Clubare delighted to be able to support our local clubs in any way we can.

"I am not sure what some of the lads painting skills will belike but we are looking forward to doing our bit to help Winterbourne CC move astep closer to completing their pavilion, which will be a fantastic facilityfor the cricket club and the local community."

The new pavilion has been 18months in the making andincludes new changing rooms, toilets and showers, a kitchen, lounge area andfacilities for people with disabilities. It is hoped that Winterbourne's thirdand fourth teams will be able to use the changing rooms from the start of thenew season and the whole thing will be completed by the end of the summer.

Club secretary Liz Bracey said: "I think it will befantastic for our members because the last time a lot of them saw it, it wasjust a shell and now it is a club house.

"People have been very good about giving up their time tohelp but having the GCCC players there on Saturday will encourage more peopleto come and lend a hand and it will be a great morale boost for everyone."

At the start of the project Winterbourne – who have fivesenior teams and six junior league sides - couldn't afford to employ acontractor and relied on club stalwarts Alan Luton and Mike Anstey to do muchof the work. The pair gave up their time to complete all the block work for freeand were subsequently awarded a Natwest OSCA (Outstanding Services to CricketAward) for their efforts.

The club found a number of other innovative ways to keeptheir costs down, including working with construction students from SouthGloucestershire and Stroud College. They have also been awarded a grant fromthe England and Wales Cricket Trust and were recently given around £750 worthof building materials for free by Wiltshire construction firm Gaiger Brothers.

Steve Silk, cricket development manager at the GloucestershireCricket Board said: "It is fantastic to see the pavilion project coming tofruition.It just shows that when peopleput in the time and effort great things can happen. The original quote wasaround £250k to £270k but by asking questions, speaking to different people andforming partnerships with groups like the College they have managed to get itbuilt for a fraction of the cost.

"It is also great tosee GCCC recognising the role they have to play in the community, engaging withclubs and encouraging more people to get involved in the game at grass rootslevel."